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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. file — a tool
  3. content — happy
  4. kick — in football
  5. court — for sport
  6. deal — to handle
  7. wind — moving air
  8. chest — of your body
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. chest — of your body
  13. court — of a king
  14. wind — moving air
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. rush — hurry
  17. chest — a box
  18. file — a document
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. file — a line of people
  23. court — of law
  24. wind — to turn a key

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com